watsonma@hotmail.com
Where are they now?
Amy glanced out the window of the café, hoping to find a familiar approaching figure but seeing no one, she returned her attention to her coffee. She stared into the dark steaming liquid. She didn't even like coffee but lately it had gotten her through some long nights of sitting in front of the computer or leafing through thick medical volumes. She felt old and tired, having left behind her teenage years and becoming a woman much earlier than she had planned.
Not long after she and the other girls had gotten the note they had defeated the wise man and the group had slowly fallen apart. Amy, finding no reason to stay, applied to Harvard University in the States, and they accepted her with a full scholarship into a program for gifted students which allowed her to skip her senior year and head right to college. She had against her better judgement enrolled in the five-year medical program, cramming the normal eight years of University and Med. School into five years, leaving her little time for anything else besides her average four hours of sleep. Now as she was doing her internship at an excellent hospital in San Francisco she still had a little time. She wasn't looking forward to her residency, as she knew she'd be working long hours with no rest.
She had rediscovered the loneliness and unhealthy work ethic she had had before meeting Serena and becoming a Sailor Scout. Today was a rare day when she had for some reason decided to take a break and meet Mina, who had come up from Los Angeles to bother some director to give her a part in a movie. Mina was late and Ami was getting impatient, she could be studying instead.
Mina had finished up high school in Tokyo but after graduation she had returned to London with her mother before moving to LA to pursue an acting career. So far she had only gotten a few small walk on roles, but it was helping to pay the bills along with her waitressing job. Mina genuinely believed she would hit it big and Amy didn't doubt her. She had the looks, the motivation, and the skills. Unfortunately she had lost some of her bubbly personality after Serena had left, it had been what had made her really stand out from so many other people.
Looking back now Amy could realize just how much Serena had affected their lives. She seemed to carry a light around with her that touched everyone she met and made their lives brighter and happier. When they had pushed her away and she had left them, their lives had completely changed.
Rei seemed to have lost some of her fire and had
become more introverted. She hadn't even put up much of a protest when
her father had come after graduation and insisted she move with him to
Washington D.C. where he spent most of his time as a Japanese diplomat.
She went to school there now. Amy heard from her occasionally, not much,
just a few lines to say where she was and let everyone know she hadn't
dropped off the face of the Earth.
Lita still had her cooking. She had gotten a scholarship to some culinary school in France and that's where she was now even though her letters indicated a desire to move to New York or LA after she felt she had had gained enough knowledge from her annoying boss and head chef, Jacques Depardieu. Mina had offered to have her room with her at her apartment in LA and Lita was considering the offer. This meeting with Mina would be the first time she'd seen her or any of her friends in almost four years. Rei, surprising them all, had suggested they get together about two years ago but they were all too busy and it was too hard to decide on a central location.
Amy looked up again and this time a recognizable figure entered her view. At least she hoped it was Mina. The figure walked in the same way she remembered Mina, but the Hair was fashionably cut at shoulder length, She was wearing sunglasses and an orange suit with a short skirt and matching heels. She looked great. She looked the part of a movie star.
As She walked into the Café people glanced at her, probably wondering if they would recognize her as an actress. When they didn't they simply returned their thoughts to their coffee and conversation. Amy stood up an enveloped Mina into a hug, the only show of affection she ever allowed herself. Mina slid her glasses off her face to reveal those bright blue orbs Amy remembered, unfortunately they brought back memories of another set of bright baby blues and stirred feelings of guilt in Amy. She wondered if there would ever come a time when she would forgive herself and forget what she had done to her best friend.
Irene was happy for herself and her sister. Together they had come up with the perfect plan for promoting the company. The Chandler sisters had done it again. Their peers were quite used to the idea of the unstoppable Chandler geniuses.
Within the short time they had begun working for the company in marketing and promotion, they had increased product sales with their strategies for reaching many different types of consumers in all age groups. Serena seemed to know just how to reach people and Irene knew just what people were looking for in a product and how to package it to appeal to people. Their father was proud and the stockholders ecstatic. Hiring these two had been one of the company's best ideas and now they were looking into further expansion into the foreign markets as well.
To top things off they had both graduated college with honors, Serena had completed her last novel and even though Jackson wanted her to go on a book tour to promote it, she was loving her job at the company too much. She was also working on a joint book project with Irene, and their family was getting plenty of attention from the media for all their success.
Irene gave a happy sigh as she plopped her exhausted body unto the large cream leather couch. Her apartment was decorated in pastel blues and creams that gave the two-bedroom flat a cool yet homely appearance. She liked this place. She had so many more pictures of her family now than she did when she was growing up.
All around were pictures of her father, Richard, and her stepmother Celine at their wedding, Her mother Anika St. Andre-Chandler receiving the award for fashion designer of the year and Serena and herself at her birthday party last year. There was even one in which they were all together. Her parents had finally gotten over their eighteen-year rift and became friends. Anika had even become friends with Celine in time to attend her wedding. Now they were all one big happy family.
Irene was happy to finally have a stable family life now. Where she had once spent her time with her mother taking trips all over Europe, she now attended family barbecues and company picnics. She went shopping with her sister without analyzing the clothes from the discriminating view of a fashion designer. She even had a fiancée.
When she had roomed with Serena in college, she had begun to have strange dreams of ancient kingdoms, beautiful princesses, handsome princes and palaces and the whole always ended in darkness and destruction. Eventually she had remembered an entire past life and her duty to protect her sister, the future queen. Ironically it had always seemed Serena was the one protecting her.
She remembered the scouts and Endymion and was
shocked to hear what had happened before Serena had left. She had finally
understood why someone as beautiful and sweet as Serena, who caught so
many guys' attention, was still single. She could see it when Serena talked
about the past. She might have tried to move on with her life but she still
loved Darien. Irene only hoped that one day Serena would find the
happiness she had found with Michael.
Michael had been her love in the Silver Millenium and she was happy to have found him again. Serena had introduced them and the moment they had looked into each other's eyes no one else existed. Serena had seemed happy for them but Irene knew that seeing them together was painful for her, knowing that the one she loved no longer loved her.
Irene sighed again and decided to get her lazy
butt off the couch and drag herself to her room to see if she had a nice
dress to wear to the company ball. Not only would her fellow co-workers
be there but some of her fathers friends and other high society. This would
probably require another shopping trip. She called Serena to see if she
was up to it.
Serena flipped through various outfits in her closet. She wasn't really feeling up to going to the ball but Lexie and Faith had insisted as she had expected they would. They of course had dates. Lexie had her husband Jackson and Faith had her fiancé Scott. Irene had Michael and Zach and Nick were too busy to attend. This left her with her default, Jay.
They usually fell back on each other when stuck without a date, as neither was romantically involved. Jay however, actually liked hob-nobbing with San Francisco's elite. Serena disliked all the niceties and false smiles that were always on display and she usually ended up dancing with Jay half the time as she could never find a decent dance partner who wasn't obnoxious, arrogant or just a bad dancer.
There was always that one guy who would try to get her into bed or drank too much champagne. She had developed signals to Jay or any of her friends who happened to be around, to come and rescue her when she got stuck with some creep or the other and unfortunately she had to use the signal at least once for every ball. It was in times like those when surrounded by people that she often felt the most alone.
She sat down on the floor in front of her closet. She needed a new outfit. Just then the phone rang and she got up and flung herself across her bed, succeeding in bumping her head into the pastel pink wall on the other side of the room. She rubbed her head, mussing her hair. That would leave a bump. She picked up the phone and answered with her usual hello.
"Bonjour Serry," the voice on the other side answered.
"Hi Ren," Serena mumbled into the phone.
"Nice to hear from you too Irene teased sarcastically."
"Sorry," Serena replied. I bumped my head in the wall."
"I'm not even going to ask. Anyway I just called to ask if you wanted to go dress hunting for the ball. I was looking through my closet and I realized I had nothing to wear."
"Me too. Sure I'll go. I desperately need a new dress."
"This time you are not buying another black dress. I', glad you're going. I thought you were going to back out of this one the way you did the last."
"I just can't see the point of going."
"Well this time, we are being honored so it would be nice to show up."
"I suppose. Anyway are you driving or am I?"
"Oh you couldn't tell? Irene asked. "I'm on my cell phone. I 'm already in front of your building. I'll be up in a few minutes so get dressed."
With that she hung up, leaving Serena to pull on a sundress, sandals and sunglasses and find something to do with her long hair. All those years of being late for school had taught her how to dress in a hurry. By the time Irene arrived at the door, Serena was fully dressed, hair half way up and ready to go.
"How do you do that?" Irene asked, amazed at how fast Serena could get dressed.
"I've had plenty of practice," Serena replied,
grinning. "Let's go." With that they were out the door and ready to take
the shopping centers by storm.